HAROLD KATZ was raised in a row house in Philadelphia and was aspirited guard on a high school basketball team that he wasn'texpected to make. Now, at age 58, he lives in a mansion in thesuburbs and owns his hometown NBA team, the Philadelphia 76ers.The trajectory of his life has been directed by three traitscommon to most successful entrepreneurs: confidence, diligenceand relentless optimism. Optimism is the cornerstone of hisbusiness plan. He got rich selling diet food.

On the day of the 1993 NBA draft, armed with the second pick,Katz had a cheery idea that he believed would return the Sixersto prominence. At enormous expense he would hire aplayer--an extremely tall player--of such spectacular promise thatthe whole nation of basketball would watch with fascination andenvy as his pet project evolved from curiosity to franchise-maker.

It did not matter to Katz that Shawn Bradley was the skinny sonof skinny parents; he would beef the kid up. It did not matterto Katz that Bradley had played only one year at Brigham Youngbefore leaving to become a Mormon missionary in Australia; Katzwould give him on-the-job training. It did not matter to Katzthat Bradley was preternaturally unaggressive, that he was outof shape, that his passion for basketball was limited, thatnobody his height had ever made a dent in the NBA. It also didnot matter to Katz that Bradley's first eight years as a prowould cost him $44 million, or about $4 million more than Katzhad received when he sold Nutri/System in 1986. Shawn Bradleywas six inches short of eight feet; he was nearly two feettaller than the man who was paying him. What else mattered?

Last Thursday, after two seasons and 12 games of a third, Katzdecided to junk his grand experiment. The Sixers and the NewJersey Nets announced they had swapped their heavily fundedprojects. Philadelphia was giving up on Bradley, who is 23, andNew Jersey was letting go of Derrick Coleman, who is 28. Colemanhas an irregular heartbeat, he's surly, and he has played, overthe course of his five years in the NBA, mostly when he feelslike it. But he has what Bradley does not--a high level ofbasketball skill. Katz's workers can put away their lab coatsand take out their Freudian texts. The transformation of Colemanwill require no physiological breakthroughs, only psychologicalones. The optimism of the entrepreneur is truly boundless.

The union of Katz and Bradley was in trouble from the start, butpoor Katz could not see that. Bradley passed up three years ofcollege eligibility to turn pro in part because he anticipatedthe arrival of rookie contract restrictions, and he knew thatwould mean he might never sniff $44 million again. Also, hiscounselors in Utah reminded Bradley that the more money he made,the more he could give to the Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-day Saints, and that logic appealed to Bradley. As Katz'sgrandmother might have said, Shawn Bradley is a nice boy.

Katz, who has been known to bring his secret basketballdiscoveries to his house for private auditions on his indoorcourt, never saw Bradley play before signing him, but this didnot deter Katz. From everything Katz heard, Bradley wasn't just7'6", he was a 7'6" athlete.

Katz was determined to spend whatever was needed to make thepartnership work. Before Bradley's first season fitness guru PatCroce, who helped to keep Philly sports legends Julius Ervingand Mike Schmidt going strong nearly into middle age, wasassigned to Bradley and charged with thickening him. BeforeBradley's second season Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was hired to teachhim the sky hook. But the lessons didn't stick. Bradley showedonly meager improvement on the court and no weight gain. Evenwith 7,000 calories a day, there was no part of Bradley's armswider than his elbows. Katz wanted a center who would scarepeople. The only thing scary about Bradley was watching himtopple over; onlookers feared bones were breaking with everyfall. From time to time Bradley would shove somebody to prove hehad a mean streak. But the shoves were an obvious show, andopposing players would look up at Bradley as if to say, "Oh,Shawn, please--we know you're a nice boy."

When Katz signed Bradley, he made a public plea for patience.Give him three full seasons, Katz said, and then judge him. Butpatience is never an entrepreneur's best virtue, and Katzhimself could not wait out the entire term. On the day afterThanksgiving, Bradley played 20 minutes and didn't have arebound. The following day Bradley played 23 minutes and scoredno points. Katz had seen enough.

Coleman has not played a game all year. He is overweight and outof condition and not interested in playing for another lousyteam. Still, Katz is certain he got the better end of the deal.He couldn't get Bradley to gain any weight. At weight loss, Katzis an expert.

COLOR ILLUSTRATION: EVANGELOS VIGLIS [Drawing of man in suit attempting to inflate basketball player who has hole in knee]